Vehicle barrier system

ABSTRACT

A vehicle barrier system that helps prevent instances of “tailgating,” where non-paying cars closely follow a paying car into (or out of) an automated garage facility or other venue to avoid fees and/or authentication.

BACKGROUND

Recently, many paid garages have converted to fully automatedfacilities. Whereas in the past there were human attendants at everyexit lane, full automation allows landlords to eliminate the humancomponent by installing payment devices called Pay On Foot (POF)machines. Customers take a ticket upon entry, pay at a POF machine whenleaving, insert the paid ticket into the exit terminal, and proceed toleave when the system recognizes the paid ticket and opens the gate arm.Full automation allows for an elimination of exit lane labor costs,reduced transaction times at exits, and elimination of mistakes orpotential fraud.

Despite the benefits of a fully automated facility, certain problemsexist when there is no human oversight at exit lanes. One problem thatis increasingly common is for non-paying cars to follow a paying carinto (or out of) the facility. This is referred to as “tailgating,” andallows the tailgating car(s) to avoid paying. Embodiments of the presentdisclosure address these and other issues.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a vehicle barrier systemthat may be used to help prevent instances of “tailgating,” wherenon-paying cars closely follow a paying car into (or out of) anautomated garage facility or other venue to avoid fees. A vehiclebarrier system according to various aspects of the present disclosureincludes: a sensor system for detecting a vehicle seeking passagethrough a gateway; a first gate system; a second gate system subsequentto the first gate system; and a control system in communication with thesensor system, the first gate system, and the second gate system. Thecontrol system comprises: a processor; and memory coupled to theprocessor and storing instructions that, when executed by the processor,cause the control system to: receive data from the sensor systemindicating the presence of the vehicle; in response to receiving thesensor data indicating the presence of the vehicle, determine whetherthe second gate system is closed; in response to determining that thesecond gate system is closed: open the first gate system to allow thevehicle to pass the first gate system; and attempt to close the firstgate system behind the vehicle after the vehicle passes the first gatesystem; in response to successfully closing the first gate system behindthe vehicle, opening the second gate system to allow the vehicle toproceed through the gateway; and in response to unsuccessfully closingthe first gate system behind the vehicle, generating an alarm.

The present disclosure includes various methods, apparatuses (includingcomputer systems) that perform such methods, and computer readable mediacontaining instructions that, when executed by computing systems, causethe computing systems to perform such methods. Other features will beapparent from the accompanying drawings and from the detaileddescription which follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary tailgating scenario.

FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram of an exemplary system according tovarious aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary method according to various aspects ofthe present disclosure.

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate an overhead view of an exemplary embodimentof the system in FIG. 2 in operation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Subject matter will now be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, andwhich show, by way of illustration, specific example embodiments.Subject matter may, however, be embodied in a variety of different formsand, therefore, covered or claimed subject matter is intended to beconstrued as not being limited to any example embodiments set forthherein; example embodiments are provided merely to be illustrative.Likewise, a reasonably broad scope for claimed or covered subject matteris intended. Among other things, for example, subject matter may beembodied as methods, devices, components, or systems. Accordingly,embodiments may, for example, take the form of hardware, software,firmware or any combination thereof (other than software per se). Thefollowing detailed description is, therefore, not intended to be takenin a limiting sense.

In the accompanying drawings, some features may be exaggerated to showdetails of particular components (and any size, material and similardetails shown in the figures are intended to be illustrative and notrestrictive). Therefore, specific structural and functional detailsdisclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as arepresentative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variouslyemploy the disclosed embodiments.

Reference in this specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment”means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic describedin connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodimentof the disclosure. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” invarious places in the specification are not necessarily all referring tothe same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodimentsmutually exclusive of other embodiments. Moreover, various features aredescribed which may be exhibited by some embodiments and not by others.Similarly, various requirements are described which may be requirementsfor some embodiments but not other embodiments.

Any combination and/or subset of the elements of the methods depictedherein may be combined with each other, selectively performed or notperformed based on various conditions, repeated any desired number oftimes, and practiced in any suitable order and in conjunction with anysuitable system, device, and/or process. The methods described anddepicted herein can be implemented in any suitable manner, such asthrough software operating on one or more computer systems. The softwaremay comprise computer-readable instructions stored in a tangiblecomputer-readable medium (such as the memory of a computer system) andcan be executed by one or more processors to perform the methods ofvarious embodiments.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of “tailgating” at a conventional parkingcheckpoint. When the two cars (Car A and Car B) are close enough to eachother, the sensor system (i.e., the Metal Loop Detector embedded underthe pavement) prevents the Gate Arm from closing on Car B after thedriver of Car A pays for parking at the Exit Terminal. Instead, the GateArm is left in the open (raised) position to prevent it from coming downon Car B and causing damage, thus allowing Car B to follow Car A underthe Gate Arm without paying at the Exit Terminal. Additionally, there istypically a delay in gate arms coming down simply due to the mechanicalspeed of the equipment. Even if the Gate Arm started to lower to aclosed position, if the Metal Loop Detector detects the presence of avehicle (i.e., Car B) under the Gate Arm, the system will raise the GateArm back to open position, allowing Car B to exit without having toinsert an unpaid ticket at the Exit Terminal.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary vehicle barrier system forpreventing tailgating according to aspects of the present disclosure,while FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary method for preventing tailgatingthat may be practiced in conjunction with the system in FIG. 2. FIGS. 4Aand 4B illustrate an exemplary embodiment of the system in FIG. 3 inoperation. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be utilized tocontrol access to or from a parking garage, parking lot, or other venue.

While FIG. 2 illustrates various components of a computer system, it isnot intended to represent any particular architecture or manner ofinterconnecting the components. Other systems that have fewer or morecomponents may also be used. In FIG. 2, the system 200 includes acontrol system 210 comprising a processor 212, memory 214, and userinterface 216. Control system 210 may include any number of differentprocessors, memory components, and user interface components, and mayinteract with any other desired systems and devices in conjunction withembodiments of the present disclosure.

The functionality of the control system 210, including the steps ofmethod 300 from FIG. 3 described herein (in whole or in part), may beimplemented through the processor 212 executing computer-readableinstructions stored in the memory 214 of the control system 210. Thememory 214 may store any computer-readable instructions and data,including software applications, applets, and embedded operating code.Portions of the functionality of the methods described herein may alsobe performed via software operating on one or more of the othercomponents shown in FIG. 3, as well as using additional computingdevices.

The functionality of the control system 210 or other system and devicesoperating in conjunction with embodiments of the present disclosure mayalso be implemented through various hardware components storingmachine-readable instructions, such as application-specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and/or complexprogrammable logic devices (CPLDs). Systems according to aspects ofcertain embodiments may operate in conjunction with any desiredcombination of software and/or hardware components.

In the example shown in FIG. 2, the processor 212 retrieves and executesinstructions stored in the memory 214 to perform the functionality ofthe control system 210. Any type of processor, such as an integratedcircuit microprocessor, microcontroller, and/or digital signal processor(DSP), can be used in conjunction with embodiments of the presentdisclosure. A memory 214 operating in conjunction with embodiments ofthe disclosure may include any combination of different memory storagedevices, such as hard drives, random access memory (RAM), read onlymemory (ROM), FLASH memory, or any other type of volatile and/ornonvolatile memory. Data can be stored in the memory 214 in any desiredmanner, such as in a relational database.

The control system 210 includes a user interface 216 that may includeany number of input devices (not shown) to receive commands, data, andother suitable input. The user interface 216 may also include any numberof output devices (not shown) to provides the user with data,notifications and alerts, and other information. Typical I/O devices mayinclude mice, keyboards, modems, network interfaces, printers, scanners,video cameras and other devices.

The control system 210 may communicate with one or more computingdevices, as well as other systems and devices in any desired manner,including via network 260. The control system 210 and/or other computingdevices may be, include, or operate in conjunction with, a laptopcomputer, a desktop computer, a mobile subscriber communication device,a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a tablet computer,an electronic book or book reader, a digital camera, a video camera, avideo game console, and/or any other suitable computing device.

The network 260 may include any electronic communications system ormethod. Communication among components operating in conjunction withembodiments of the present disclosure may be performed using anysuitable communication method, such as, for example, a telephonenetwork, an extranet, an intranet, the Internet, point of interactiondevice (point of sale device, personal digital assistant (e.g., iPhone®,Palm Pilot®, Blackberry®), cellular phone, kiosk, etc.), onlinecommunications, satellite communications, off-line communications,wireless communications, transponder communications, local area network(LAN), wide area network (WAN), virtual private network (VPN), networkedor linked devices, keyboard, mouse and/or any suitable communication ordata input modality. Systems and devices of the present disclosure mayutilize TCP/IP communications protocols as well as IPX, Appletalk, IP-6,NetBIOS, OSI, any tunneling protocol (e.g. IPsec, SSH), or any number ofexisting or future protocols.

The exemplary vehicle barrier system 200 shown in FIG. 2 includes asensor system 220 in communication with the control system 210. Thesensor system 220 may include any number and type of different sensorsto detect the presence of vehicles seeking passage through a gateway andto collect other data. Such sensors may include: a camera, a motionsensor, a pressure sensor, and an inductive loop sensor. In theexemplary embodiment of the system 200 shown in FIG. 4A, the sensorsystem 220 includes a pair of inductive loop sensors (each labeled“Metal Loop Detector”), with each loop sensor positioned in front of thetwo gate arms to detect the presence of a vehicle.

System 200 further includes a pair of gate systems, first gate system230 and second gate system 240. The first gate system 230 is positionedto control access to an initial portion of a gateway, while the secondgate system is 240 is positioned subsequent to the first gate system 240to control final access to the gateway. As shown in FIG. 4A, forexample, a vehicle first must pass the first gate system 230 (labeled“First Gate Arm”) before passing the second gate system 240 (labeled“Second Gate Arm”).

The Gate Systems 230, 240 may include any number and type of differentdoors, gates, and other systems for controlling access to a gateway. Forexample, Gate Systems 230, 240 may comprise one or more of: ahorizontally tilting door, a vertically tilting door, a sectional door,a vertically rotating arm, horizontally rotating arm, a spike barrier,and a post. The first gate system 230 and second gate system 240 neednot utilize the same type of access control system. In the example shownin FIG. 4A, the first gate system 230 and second gate system 240 eachinclude a vertically rotating arm that lowers (closes) to block accessto the gateway and raises (opens) to allow a vehicle to pass.

In the example shown in FIG. 2, the Control System 210 is incommunication with an Access Terminal 250 adapted to receive input froma driver of a vehicle. The Access Terminal 250 may be positioned in anydesired location, such as next to the first gate system 230 or (as shownfor the “Exit Terminal” in FIG. 4A) next to the second gate system 240.Alternate embodiments may utilize multiple access terminals as well. Insome embodiments, Access Terminal 250 may be adapted to communicateautomatically with one or more systems and/or devices associated with avehicle without input from the driver. For example, the Access Terminal250 may communicate with a radio frequency identification (RFID) systemcoupled to a vehicle to automatically authenticate the vehicle forpassage through the gateway. A user may also provide input to the AccessTerminal 250 by scanning an RFID badge, inserting a validation ticket,entering a code, scanning a barcode, and/or entering biometricinformation.

The Control System 210 may be adapted to analyze the informationcollected from the user (or automatically from a system associated withthe user's vehicle) by the Access Terminal 250 to authenticate the useror vehicle for passage through the gateway. Successful authentication inthis manner may be required prior to opening one or both of the firstgate system 230 or the second gate system 240.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary method 300 that may be performed inconjunction with the system 200 shown in FIG. 2. In this exemplarymethod, the control system 210 receives data (305) from the sensorsystem 220 that indicates the presence of a vehicle seeking accessthrough a gateway controlled by the first gate system 230 and secondgate system 240. In response to receiving the sensor data, the controlsystem 210 determines whether the second gate system 240 is closed(310). If the second gate system 240 is not closed (i.e., a vehiclecould drive through the second gate system 240) the control system 210leaves the First Gate closed (315), which prevents multiple vehiclesfrom tailgating past both the first gate system 230 and second gatesystem 240 as soon as the first gate system 230 is opened.

If the control system 210 determines that the second gate system 240 isclosed, the control system 210 opens (320) the first gate system 230 toallow the vehicle to pass the first gate system 230. The control system210 attempts to close (325) the first gate system 230 behind the vehicleafter the vehicle passes the first gate system 230.

The control system 210 determines whether the first gate system 230successfully closed behind the vehicle (330). If the first gate system230 successfully closed behind the vehicle, the vehicle will bepositioned between the first gate system 230 and the second gate system240 (both off which are closed) as shown for the lead car in FIG. 4B.Any vehicles behind the lead vehicle (i.e., “Car B” in FIG. 4A) will bebehind the first gate system 230. In response to successfully closingthe first gate system 230 behind the vehicle, the control system 210authenticates the driver (or vehicle itself) (335) as described above.In response to a successful authentication, the control system 210 opens(340) the second gate system 240 to allow the vehicle to pass throughthe gateway, and closes (345) the second gate system 240 behind thevehicle.

In the event that the first gate system 230 did not close successfully,the control system may analyze (350) data from the sensor system 220 andgenerate an alarm (355). In The control system 210 may generate avariety of different alarms, such as visual alarms, audio alarms, andalarms included in electronic communications such as emails, SMS texts,and the like.

In order to prevent damage to longer vehicles, vehicles with trailers,or even a second vehicle attempting to tailgate behind a first vehicle,the control system 210 may refrain from closing either gate system 230,240 in response to detecting an obstacle within a gate system. Thecontrol system may automatically analyze (350) sensor data to identifythe nature of an obstacle. For example, in some embodiments the sensorsystem 220 may include one or more cameras positioned and adapted tocapture an image (as well as video) of an obstacle blocking either gatesystem 230, 240. The control system 210 may then automatically identifythe obstacle using, for example, an image recognition algorithm, andthen generate the alarm (355) based on the identification of theobstacle.

For example, the subject matter and delivery of an alarm may becustomized based on whether the obstacle is a person, animal, part of avehicle, another vehicle, etc. Consider an example where the obstacle isidentified to be a second vehicle, the control system 210 mayautomatically determine that a vehicle is attempting to tailgate, andgenerate the alarm (355) to alert a user of the system 200 (such as aparking attendant) to attend to the gateway and enforce payment from thetailgating vehicle. The alarm could also (or alternatively) be deliveredto the driver of the tailgating vehicle to instruct the driver of thesecond vehicle to back up to allow the first gate system 230 to close.Alarms could also be generated and delivered to a law enforcementagency, as well as any other party.

In embodiments employing one or more cameras in conjunction with thesensor system 220, such cameras may be adapted to capture images of thedrivers of vehicles attempting to pass through the gateway, as well aslicense plates coupled to such vehicles. The control system 210 may useimage recognition algorithms or other techniques to determine whether adriver's face and/or license plate is obscured from the view of thecameras. For example, a license plate may be covered in mud, or thedriver may intentionally be hiding his/her face. In such cases, an alarmmay include a notification directed to the driver of a vehicle to removethe obfuscation to allow identification of the vehicle and/or driver.

For the sake of brevity, conventional data networking, applicationdevelopment and other functional aspects of the systems (and componentsof the individual operating components of the systems) may not bedescribed in detail herein. Furthermore, the connecting lines shown inthe various figures contained herein are intended to represent exemplaryfunctional relationships and/or physical couplings between the variouselements. It should be noted that many alternative or additionalfunctional relationships or physical connections may be present in apractical system.

The systems and methods of the present disclosure may be embodied as acustomization of an existing system, an add-on product, a processingapparatus executing upgraded software, a stand alone system, adistributed system, a method, a data processing system, a device fordata processing, and/or a computer program product. Accordingly, anyportion of the system or a module may take the form of a processingapparatus executing code, an internet based embodiment, an entirelyhardware embodiment, or an embodiment combining aspects of the internet,software and hardware. Furthermore, the system may take the form of acomputer program product on a computer-readable storage medium havingcomputer-readable program code means embodied in the storage medium. Anysuitable computer-readable storage medium may be utilized, includinghard disks, CD-ROM, optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices,and/or the like.

The term “non-transitory” is to be understood to remove only propagatingtransitory signals per se from the claim scope and does not relinquishrights to all standard computer-readable media that are not onlypropagating transitory signals per se. Stated another way, the meaningof the term “non-transitory computer-readable medium” should beconstrued to exclude only those types of transitory computer-readablemedia which were found in In Re Nuijten to fall outside the scope ofpatentable subject matter under 35 U.S.C. §101.

Although the disclosure includes a method, it is contemplated that itmay be embodied as computer program instructions on a tangiblecomputer-readable carrier, such as a magnetic or optical memory or amagnetic or optical disk. All structural, chemical, and functionalequivalents to the elements of the above-described exemplary embodimentsthat are known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expresslyincorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed bythe present claims. Moreover, it is not necessary for a device or methodto address each and every problem sought to be solved by the presentdisclosure, for it to be encompassed by the present claims. Furthermore,no element, component, or method step in the present disclosure isintended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether theelement, component, or method step is explicitly recited in the claims.No claim element herein is to be construed under the provisions of 35U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, unless the element is expressly recitedusing the phrase “means for.” As used herein, the terms “comprises”,“comprising”, or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover anon-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, orapparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only thoseelements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherentto such process, method, article, or apparatus.

Where a phrase similar to “at least one of A, B, or C,” “at least one ofA, B, and C,” “one or more A, B, or C,” or “one or more of A, B, and C”is used, it is intended that the phrase be interpreted to mean that Aalone may be present in an embodiment, B alone may be present in anembodiment, C alone may be present in an embodiment, or that anycombination of the elements A, B and C may be present in a singleembodiment; for example, A and B, A and C, B and C, or A and B and C.

Changes and modifications may be made to the disclosed embodimentswithout departing from the scope of the present disclosure. These andother changes or modifications are intended to be included within thescope of the present disclosure, as expressed in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A vehicle barrier system comprising: a sensorsystem for detecting a vehicle seeking passage through a gateway; afirst gate system; a second gate system subsequent to the first gatesystem; and a control system in communication with the sensor system,the first gate system, and the second gate system, wherein the controlsystem comprises: a processor; and memory coupled to the processor andstoring instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause thecontrol system to: receive data from the sensor system indicating thepresence of the vehicle; in response to receiving the sensor dataindicating the presence of the vehicle, determine whether the secondgate system is closed; in response to determining that the second gatesystem is closed: open the first gate system to allow the vehicle topass the first gate system; and attempt to close the first gate systembehind the vehicle after the vehicle passes the first gate system; inresponse to successfully closing the first gate system behind thevehicle, opening the second gate system to allow the vehicle to proceedthrough the gateway; and in response to unsuccessfully closing the firstgate system behind the vehicle, generating an alarm.
 2. The system ofclaim 1, further comprising an access terminal coupled to the controlsystem and adapted to receive input from a driver of the vehicle,wherein the memory of the control system further stores instructions forcausing the control system to successfully authenticate the driver,based on the input from the driver, prior to opening the second gatesystem.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein the input from the driverincludes one or more of: insertion of a validation ticket, entry of acode, scanning of a barcode, scanning of a radio frequencyidentification badge, and entry of biometric information.
 4. The systemof claim 2, wherein the sensor system includes one or more of: a camera,a motion sensor, a pressure sensor, and an inductive loop sensor.
 5. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the first gate system comprises one or moreof: a horizontally tilting door, a vertically tilting door, a sectionaldoor, a vertically rotating arm, horizontally rotating arm, a spikebarrier, and a post.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the second gatesystem comprises one or more of: a horizontally tilting door, avertically tilting door, a sectional door, a vertically rotating arm,horizontally rotating arm, a spike barrier, and a post.
 7. The system ofclaim 1, wherein generating the alarm includes generating one or moreof: a visual alarm, an audio alarm, and an electronic communication. 8.The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor system is adapted to detect anobstacle blocking closure of the first gate system, and wherein thememory of the control system further stores instructions for causing thecontrol system to refrain from closing the first gate system in responseto detection of the obstacle by the sensor system.
 9. The system ofclaim 8, wherein the sensor system includes one or more cameras adaptedto capture an image of the obstacle blocking the first gate system. 10.The system of claim 9, wherein the memory of the control system furtherstores instructions for causing the control system to: automaticallyidentify the obstacle from the image of the obstacle; and generate thealarm based on the identification of the obstacle.
 11. The system ofclaim 10, wherein the obstacle is a second vehicle, and wherein thememory of the control system further stores instructions for causing thecontrol system to: automatically identify the second vehicle from theimage of the obstacle; and based on identifying the second vehicle,generate the alarm to a user of the system to attend to the gateway. 12.The system of claim 11, wherein the obstacle is a second vehicle, andwherein the memory of the control system further stores instructions forcausing the control system to: automatically identify the second vehiclefrom the image of the obstacle; and based on identifying the secondvehicle, generate the alarm to instruct a driver of the second vehicleto back up to allow the first gate system to close.
 13. The system ofclaim 9, wherein the obstacle is a second vehicle, and wherein the oneor more cameras are adapted to capture one or more of: an image of adriver of the vehicle, an image of a driver of the second vehicle, animage of a license plate coupled to the vehicle, and an image of alicense plate coupled to the second vehicle.
 14. The system of claim 13,wherein the memory of the control system further stores instructions forcausing the control system to: determine, based on an image capturedfrom the one or more cameras, that a license plate coupled to thevehicle is obscured; and generating an alarm directed to the driver ofthe vehicle that includes a notification that the license plate coupledto the vehicle is obscured.
 15. The system of claim 13, wherein thememory of the control system further stores instructions for causing thecontrol system to: determine, based on an image captured from the one ormore cameras, that a license plate coupled to the second vehicle isobscured; and generating an alarm directed to the driver of the secondvehicle that includes a notification that the license plate coupled tothe second vehicle is obscured.